Part 30

RIFLE PITS, CONTEST AT THE.--_Crimean war._ “The bombardment was re-opened on Easter Monday, the 9th April, soon after daybreak. Heavy rain fell all day, and the dense atmosphere prevented our men from observing the effect of the fire. This time the fleets did not share in the bombardment. At the close of the day, it was evident that our weight of metal, though greatly superior to that employed on the occasion of the first bombardment in October, was yet inadequate to the task of destroying the colossal works of the enemy. In vain our artillery pounded the earthworks and batteries. In vain showers of shell were poured into the town. The Russian engineers proved themselves consummate masters of their art, and every morning fresh guns poured forth a deadly reply from the repaired embrasures. Their resources seemed literally inexhaustible, and their courage was fully equal to the occasion. For more than a week the tremendous bombardment continued, and notwithstanding the intensity of the fire from the French and English batteries, comparatively little effect was produced. In the meanwhile both armies worked assiduously at the trenches. The French succeeded in carrying their parallels yet nearer to the Mamelon, a large rounded hill in front of the Malakoff Tower, and covered with rifle pits and earthworks; while the English gradually extended their lines towards the formidable Redan. Their great difficulty lay in forming a trench which should connect the zigzags leading on the right towards the Malakoff, and on the left towards the Redan. In order to obstruct the formation of this work, the enemy established a series of rifle-pits which enfiladed the new parallel, and whence considerable loss was inflicted upon our working parties. In addition to the fire from the rifle-pits, the enemy brought down a 12-pounder gun which swept our trenches, and effectually hindered the progress of the work. It became necessary, therefore, to attempt to drive the Russians from their vantage-ground; and on the night of the 19th of April, Colonel Egerton, at the head of 250 men of the Light Division, attempted the exploit, dashed from the breastwork, and, taking the enemy by surprise, drove him out. The successful English immediately established themselves in the pits, but the Russians were too sensible of the value of the position to permit the advantage to remain undisputed, and marched down a column 1000 strong, to attempt the recovery of the pits. Our troops met them with a well-directed volley, which shook their ranks and then closed with them in a deadly contest. The enemy was, after an obstinate fight, completely routed, and the British had secured an important advantage, though not without the loss of the gallant Colonel. On the following night, the second line of rifle-pits was also carried, after a feeble resistance; and our working parties were thus enabled to pursue their labours without annoyance, and in comparative security.”

ROADS, LORD COCHRANE AT BASQUE.--“Our fire-ships were sent in, each conducted by a lieutenant and five men; the ships were sixteen in number, and some very heavy. When they got in, the French ships cut and slipt, nine sail of the line got on shore on the Isle of Aix, and the next morning we discovered them: the fire-ships having done little good, the small craft and frigates were ordered in to attempt to destroy them. The place where they lay was like Portsmouth harbour, under the fire of the two batteries, each of which had three tiers of guns, of twenty-nine each, all heavy metal: the navigation to get at them was very difficult, in some places there being only four fathoms water. Just as we were sitting down to dinner on board the Revenge, our signal was made to go in and assist the gun and mortar vessels; our ship was cleared for action in fifteen minutes, and in half an hour we were alongside of three sail of the line, when we opened a dreadful cannonade on them, which continued for an hour and a quarter, the Warsaw, a fine 80-gun ship, and the Aquilon, struck to us. We were now in a very critical state ourselves, being in only five fathoms water, which was ebbing very fast; the batteries on shore, having got our length, struck us almost every shot for the last quarter of an hour; luckily, a breeze springing up, we got off into deeper water, and out of reach of their guns, when we anchored again, and sent our boats to take out the prisoners, and set them on fire, about seven, p.m. At nine they were all in flames, and at two in the morning they blew up with a tremendous explosion; the French set fire to the Tonniere, and the Imperieuse to the Calcutta; three other ships of the line were on shore, very much mauled by the frigates and boom-ships; some of them were on their beam-ends, and but little chance of getting off again. The captain of the Warsaw was on board our ship; he said, they were bound out to relieve Martinique with troops and provisions. I went on board his ship after she struck, and the decks were strewed with dead and dying, a most dreadful slaughter. We also lost several killed and wounded, and our ship was much cut up in sails and rigging.

Lord Cochrane caused about 1500 barrels of gunpowder to be started into puncheons, which were placed end upwards: upon the tops of these were placed between 3 and 400 shells, charged with fuses; and again, among and upon these were between 2 and 3000 hand-grenades. The puncheons were fastened to each other by cables wound round them, and jammed together with wedges; and moistened sand was rammed down between these casks, so as to render the whole, from stem to stern, as solid as possible, that the resistance might render the explosion the more violent.

In this tremendous instrument of destruction, Lord Cochrane committed himself, with only one lieutenant and four seamen; and after the boom was broken, his lordship proceeded with this explosion-ship towards the enemy’s line. Let it be recollected, that at this moment the batteries on shore were provided with furnaces to fire red-hot shot, and then his lordship’s danger in this enterprize may be properly conceived.

The wind blew a gale, and the tide ran three knots an hour. When the blue lights of the fire-ships were discovered, one of the enemy’s line made the signal for fire-ships; which being also a blue light, the enemy fell into great confusion, firing upon her with very injurious effect, and directly cut their cables.

When lord Cochrane had conducted his explosion-ship as near as was possible, the enemy having taken the alarm, he ordered his brave little crew into the boat, and followed them, after putting fire to the fuse, which was calculated to give them fifteen minutes to get out of reach of the explosion. However, in consequence of the wind getting very high, the fuse burnt too quickly; so that, with the most violent exertion against wind and tide, this intrepid little party was six minutes nearer than they calculated to be, at the time when the most tremendous explosion that human art ever contrived took place, followed by the bursting at once in the air of nearly 400 shells and 3000 hand-grenades, pouring down a shower of castmetal in every direction. But fortunately our second Nelson was spared, the boat having reached, by unparalleled exertion, only just beyond the extent of destruction. Unhappily, this effort to escape cost the life of the brave lieutenant, whom his noble captain saw die in the boat, partly under fatigue, and partly drowned with waves that continually broke over them. Two of the four sailors were also so nearly exhausted, that their recovery was for some time despaired of.

The repetition of his explosions was so dreaded by the enemy, that they apprehended an equal destruction in every fire-ship, and, immediately crowding all sail, ran before wind and tide so fast, that the fire-ships, though at first very near, could not overtake them, before they were high and dry on shore, except three seventy-fours, besides the Calcutta, which were afterwards engaged, taken, and burned.

Lord Cochrane now turned his attention to rescue the vanquished from the devouring elements; and in bringing away the people of the Ville de Varsovie, he would not allow even a dog to be abandoned, but took the crying little favourite up into his arms and brought it away. But a still greater instance of goodness was displayed in his humanity to a captain of a French seventy-four, who came to deliver his sword to Lord Cochrane, and lamented that all he had in the world was about to be destroyed by the conflagration of his ship. His lordship instantly got into the boat with him, and pushed off to assist his prisoner in retrieving some valuable loss; but in passing by a seventy-four, which was on fire, her loaded guns began to go off; a shot from which killed the French captain by Lord Cochrane’s side, and so damaged the boat, that she filled and the rest of the party were nearly drowned.”

RODNEY’S, ADMIRAL, VICTORIES.--This renowned Admiral fought, near Cape St. Vincent, the Spanish Admiral Don Langara, whom he defeated, and made prisoner, destroying eight of his ships and taking four, January 16th, 1780. On April 12th, 1782, he encountered the French fleet in the West Indies, commanded by Count de Grasse--took 10 ships of the line, and sent the French Admiral prisoner to England. The enemy lost also one ship, sunk, and three blown up.

ROSAS, BAY OF.--Brilliant naval action by the boats of the Tigre, Cumberland, Volontaire, Apollo, Topaz, Philomel, Scout, and Tuscan, commanded by Lieutenant Tailour, which ended in the capture or destruction of 11 armed vessels in the bay. November 1st, 1809.

ROSBACH, BATTLES OF.--In the first battle fought at Rosbach 40,000 rebel Flemings, under the command of the Duke of Burgundy, the King Charles VI in France being present, fell November 17th, 1382. A second battle between the Prussians, commanded by their King and the combined army of the French and Austrians, in which the latter sustained a severe defeat. Many thousands were slain on both sides, November 5th, 1757.

ROSES, WARS OF THE.--These wars arose out of a contest for the throne, between the two houses of York and Lancaster. It was termed the War of the Roses, from the badge of the York party being a white, and that of the Lancaster a red rose. It arose in complicated disputes about the succession among the descendants of Edward III. The feud thus arising was not concluded until Henry VII asserted the ascendency of the Lancaster party, on the field of Bosworth, and united the two, by marriage with a daughter of the York party.

King Richard was killed at Bosworth and the Crown conferred upon the Earl of Richmond, and an end put to the wars between the two houses of York and Lancaster, begun upon the intrusion of king Henry IV, and continued till the death of King Richard III. There were fought 12 pitched battles, and 2 kings, 1 prince, 10 dukes, 2 marquesses, 24 earls, 27 lords, 2 viscounts, 1 lord prior, 1 judge, 139 knights, 441 esquires, and 84,998 private soldiers were slain; which, being added to the 638 of superior quality, there appears to have been killed in the quarrels between the two roses, 85,625.

ROSS, BATTLE OF.--_In Ireland._--Fought, June 4th, 1698, between the Royal troops and the insurgent forces, when, after the most obstinate contest, the latter were defeated losing more than 2600 killed on the field.

ROXBURGH.--The following describes the razing of this fortress A.D. 1460: “Ever since the captivity of David II, a period of more than a hundred years, the castle of Roxburgh had been in possession of the English. James laid siege to it. He had gone with several of his nobility to watch the effect of a battery of cannon which had begun to play on the fortress. One of the pieces, a large gun of Flemish manufacture, formed of iron bars hooped together, burst in firing. A heavy fragment struck the King on the groin, and killed him on the spot. A holly tree in the park of Fleurs Castle still marks the place where James of the Fiery Face, not yet 30 years old, came to his untimely end. On hearing the lamentable tidings, the queen came immediately to the camp. She appeared in the midst of the army, leading by the hand her little son, now the King. The spirited woman exhorted the soldiers to spend no time in vain regrets, but to show their regard for the dead, by gaining the victory which he had so much at heart. Catching ardour from her appeal, the army renewed the attack and carried the castle by storm that same day. The ruins of the stronghold, which cost Scotland so dear, are still to be seen on the tongue of land where Tweed and Teviot join, a little way above Kelso Bridge.

S.

SACRED WAR.--_Sacrum Bellum._--The first, about the celebrated temple of Delphi, took place B.C. 448. The second occurred also at the same place, when it was attacked by the Phœnicians, B.C. 356.

SADOWA, BATTLE OF.--Fought, July 3rd, 1866, between the Prussians and Austrians. Dr. Russel thus writes:--

“In spite of the sombre morning and of the grey clothing, relieved only by the darker but livelier green of the Jagers and their plumed hats, the effect of the whole host wheeling, deploying, advancing, taking ground to the right or left, or marching in lengthened column, was so bright that it was difficult to believe they all, horses and men, had been sleeping out under the veiled stars of heaven, and were still dank and heavy with the night dew and the rain of the morning. But there could be no mistake about the reality of the work in which they were engaged, for the Austrians on the brow of the slope to the right were pounding away fiercely at the invincible enemy in the valley. That there was an enemy was plain enough, for the earth flew up on the slope as the answering shells glanced upwards, and then exploded among the infantry in the rear. This was about 8.30 A.M. At nine o’clock a heavy shower obscured the field, and when it drifted northwards three Austrian batteries were still busy on the slope, and several columns of infantry, deploying on its side, moved up around it and disappeared into the valley, whence there soon came masses of curling smoke, and then the batteries limbered up and moved over also, showing that the enemy were falling back. The second line on the right made a slight movement to the right and upwards, but it did not seem as if the Austrians concerned themselves much for the ground between the rear of Imilovitz and the river. The cannonade which had all this time been going on towards the right now extended towards the middle or centre; a line of batteries moving on or halting to fire could be seen on the plateau to the right of Klum, and it was evident that the enemy was in great force in that direction. It looked as if the Prussians had attacked the position almost simultaneously from left to right, for no sooner had the action developed itself on the centre than it rolled back from Nechanitz on the left, and before 9.30 the whole range of hills and valleys and slopes for nine miles and more was as if the earth had been turned into snow wreaths agitated in a wintry gale. Before 10 o’clock a thicker and darker cloud rose from the trees and the village on the right. “My God, Imilovitz is in flames,” exclaimed the guardian of the tower. The officers said “_Ja so!_” “_Hem!_” and uttered various other sounds of varied import possibly, smoked their cigars, and looked on. Imilovitz, indeed, blazed up furiously after a time, and in about a quarter of an hour more the Austrian batteries which had gone down the slope toiled up again, unlimbered, and fired from the brow. Puffs of smoke high in the air or rising from the ground showed where the Prussian fire was plying the Austrians on the right; but their guns replied vigorously, and all through that day, though sometimes ill-placed, the Austrian artillery behaved most gallantly. It was difficult to ascertain why the Austrian corps on the right were so unsteady, and why so many men were leaving the ranks of regiments still invisible; but after a time another sponge-like rain-cloud wiped away everything, and left it all like a clean slate, from behind which there issued a rolling fire of cannon as close as the volleys of a _feu de joie_. When the shower passed away, the cannonade on the right near the tree had sensibly diminished, and the Austrians seemed to have the advantage all along the front, judging by the advance of their guns and infantry, except near the left centre and right of their line. On the extreme left another black cloud now rose up, licked by flames at the base. “_Gott in Himmel!_” exclaimed the guardian of the tower, “Sadowa burns now!” And so it was. The pleasant little village, snug church, hospitable mill--all were burning. It was with surer divination of the coming woe than we had that the poor people had fled in tears, or remained in hopeless sorrow in their homes. The heat of this great battle burned up whatever it touched, and sent forth the lava which destroyed as it flowed on all sides. Between the big tree and Klum, in the centre and far away towards the second ridge, the fight was raging with extraordinary fury from 10 o’clock till 10.30--and that half-hour seemed an age. But still the Austrians advanced. One grey mass of men followed another into the smoke, and was lost there. Towards Sadowa and Nechanitz on the left they also were gaining ground, and before 11 o’clock their columns had gone out of sight into the valley or undulations, and the Prussians could be seen by their fire to have fallen back on the opposing slopes of the second range of hills.

An animating and magnificent feature was now added to the terrible spectacle by the forward movement of the heavy cavalry near the Prague road and towards the centre. These great squares of white, spreading out slowly, obliterated the cornfields. The very colour of the ground was changed and darkened under the trampling of horses. One column went towards the Nechanitz road, the other two moved towards Klum; but after a few formations they halted again, and some of these regiments dismounted and stood by their horses. The Saxons, readily to be distinguished by their light blue, also advanced parallel with the Prague road towards the top of the slope. This was some time after eleven o’clock, when the Prussian left and centre had visibly given way, though fighting with extreme tenacity and fervour. The light cavalry, at the same time, or part of them, advanced towards Klum in the centre, awaiting the moment to deluge the plain with an exulting flood. But the time was not come. The Prussians, reinforced, or calling in their second line and reserves, came with a desperate impetus up the slopes on the left and centre, and also developed a new attack on the left of the Prague road, which looked like a black riband now and then as the smoke was driven off by the wind. They were intent on turning our left if possible, but they met with a stubborn and successful resistance at that point. Soon afterwards, in the midst of a heavy fall of rain, the cavalry made another advance, and when it cleared the Austrian infantry were seen to have moved still further to the left and centre, while the sound of the cannonade grew so deafening that the Prussians must have been driven back beyond the position they occupied when they began the action. Between half-past eleven and twelve o’clock the Austrians were to all intents successful on the centre and on its flanks, although the fury of the cannonade and the incessant rattle of musketry all along the front, from the front of Nechanitz to the plateau beyond Klum attested the severity of the struggle and the obstinate resistance of the Prussians. Probbis, another pretty village, was now in flames; three villages burning at once, farmhouses adding their contingents to the fire and smoke, caissons blowing up, shells bursting, and the slopes and hill tops covered with grey and blue specs--each a man in agony or in death. Again the cavalry moved onwards. This time one division, in three bodies, crowned the ridge and formed near the front line under the church, on the left of Klum, in the centre and left of the position, and there they waited once more. But now on the right the action awoke again, and, to our surprise, a very heavy fire of musketry, comparatively close at hand, came from the direction of Smirlintz; the Austrians on the crest of the ridge moved uneasily, while many more stragglers than one cared to see pressed down towards the railroad. Whatever the cause of the agitation, the Prussians on the centre and left pressed their attack with renewed vigour, and the contest which ensued was of exceeding fierceness; but still the enemy did not prevail--the Austrians not only held their ground, but repulsed the enemy advanced against them, took their ground, and made prisoners. From the left of Klum to the Prague road, and beyond it, all was fire and smoke. The tumult of voices was dreadful, and such as is never to be heard save in such awful agony of battle. The Austrians again advanced a little nearer the big tree, and two batteries of reserve artillery could be seen driving fast to the left to strengthen the attack. But the Prussian reserves were once more called upon, and from 12.30 till nearly 1 o’clock there was an artillery fire from centre to left for six miles or more, which could not well have been exceeded in any action of which history makes mention. That ammunition was becoming needed in the advanced position was evident from the motion of the trains of supply and reserve, and we watched the cavalry with intense interest, as it seemed to be the time for them to make an impression. The Prussians were wavering. At 1 o’clock the Prussians, however, recovered some of the ground on the right near the big tree. The Austrian artillery began to fall back over the brow of the hill, and again battalions of infantry came in sight and moved away obliquely towards the centre. Still, no Prussians appeared in that direction, but they were certainly forcing the Austrians back on the right. It might have been expected that the reserves to the right would have been sent up to hold the top of the slope, but I could not see it was so. Many stragglers now appeared on the railway, the fields were spotted with them; and now and then a shell bursting in or over the infantry marching along the slope or the reserves, struck them, or left a little pile of dead or struggling men in the voids which the opening columns displayed. I confess the advance of the Prussians in this direction appeared to me inexplicable and very serious; for, although the left and centre of the Austrians might be victorious, this movement threatened, by forcing back their right, to cut them off from Konigsgratz--so, at least, was the situation as viewed from the tower; but it is strange how different a field of action appears from different points of view, as any one may find out by riding from place to place on a field-day. However, a General who saw what was visible to those in the tower would have felt uneasiness and have turned his attention to fill the gap in his line at the centre, and to drive back the Prussians who were doubling up his right.